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FHSU falls to Truman
9/20/2009
By CONOR NICHOLL
cnicholl@dailynews.net
The Fort Hays State University volleyball team has endured a tough opening stretch, including just four victories and six losses in straight sets. On Saturday, though, the young Tigers took a positive step against No. 19 Truman State (Mo.) University, a perennial Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association power that reached the NCAA Division II Final Four last season.
Fort Hays took the first set 25-23, just the fourth time in the last 28-matches against ranked teams the Tigers had won a set. It was the first time in those 28 matches against a Top 25 squad Fort Hays had won the first set.
Truman State, led by freshman middle hitter Megan Sharpe, eventually won the final three sets 25-21, 25-20 and 25-15 as Fort Hays lost 3-1 at Gross Memorial Coliseum. The Tigers fell to 0-2 at home this season after a 3-2 loss to Northwest Missouri State University on Friday night.
"It's a huge step for us just to stay in the game and really play with them all the way through," first-year Tiger coach Kurt Kohler said. "We are not at the point of beating those teams yet, but that is where I see our program being in the next couple of years."
In the first set, Fort Hays (4-11 overall, 1-2 MIAA) trailed 13-12 before a 6-0 run gave the Tigers an 18-13 lead. Senior outside hitter Lilian Rezende had two kills in the run and finished the first set with seven. Rezende, the team leader in every statistical category and third in the MIAA in kills per set (3.95), finished with 20 kills and a .235 hitting percentage.
On Friday, Rezende had her worst performance of the fall with a (minus-.022) hitting percentage, a match Kohler called a "nightmare" for the all-conference outside hitter.
"She got her head straight and came out and did some great things against a better team than what we had (Friday)," Kohler said.
Truman State (10-5, 1-2), under first-year coach Ben Briney, the program's former lead assistant, tied the set at 22. Rezende, though, delivered a kill and Sharpe had an attack error, one of two she had all match. After a Rezende service error, senior right side hitter Lydia Karnopp hit a kill to win the set. Fort Hays hit .244 in the first set compared to Truman State's .095.
"We are starting to click and it (the offense) is starting to look a lot better in the last few weeks, and we just have to continue to improve," Fort Hays freshman Makayla McPhail said.
Defensively, sophomore libero Tracie Hileman had seven digs in the first set and 25 total, a new career-high.
However, the Bulldogs never trailed in the final three sets. Fort Hays was down 8-1 early in the second set but pulled within 21-18 before the Tigers fell by four points. During the time out between sets, Kohler accentuated the positive.
"For us to be able to even compete with a team like that, No. 19 team in the country, really is a pretty good effort on our part, so I am pretty proud of our kids," Kohler said.
The Bulldogs, led by Sharpe, raced out to a 6-2 lead in Game 3 and wasn't threatened.
"I think our work ethic is above most of the teams I have seen this year," Kohler said. "We outwork them; right now, we just don't have the skill to compete with some of those teams. Don't have the athletic ability right now, but we will get there with a few additional players and some of these kids."
Sharpe, the top freshman, statistically, in the conference, ranks fifth in hitting percentage (.349) and seventh in kills (3.24) in the latest release of MIAA statistics. She had five kills in the third set and finished with 18 kills and a .516 hitting percentage, both career-highs.
"She is a phenomenal athlete and fun to watch," Kohler said.
Truman State, which normally uses two setters, went to a 5-1 offense with junior Ashley Petak, who collected a career-best 46 assists.
"She is a great player and we were trying to get our block set and a lot of times we would get our block set and she would hit over us or she would hit around us," McPhail said of Sharpe. "... Defensively, we just have to pick it up when there is a great player like that."
Truman State took a 7-5 lead in Game 4 before a 14-7 run put the set out of reach. The Bulldogs, who have been ranked 130 straight weeks in the American Volleyball Coaches Top 25, hit .280 as a team and had three players with at least 11 kills.
Fort Hays, which leads the conference in hitting errors, out-killed Truman State 59-58. However, the Tigers committed 11 more errors than Truman State and five more service errors.
"They started really pounding the ball, and when you are an aggressive team like they are, they have got so much talent that is hard for us to stick with them with now where we are in our program," Kohler said. "We will get there, I think we will be there at the same point."
Friday
NW Mo. St. 3, Fort Hays 2
Fort Hays lost its home opener in a five-set thriller against Northwest Missouri State University on Friday night at GMC, 20-25, 25-15, 25-20, 24-26, 16-14. Karnopp paced the Tigers with 22 kills, while Hileman collected 20 digs. Junior setter Whitney Liggett had 34 assists.
Northwest Missouri State had 13 kills from Ashley Mitchell and 24 digs from Paige Spangenburg.
| Scoreboard | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Sport | Date | Opponent | Score |
| 2/18 | SW Baptist | L 66-53 | |
| 12/1 | Oklahoma - Panhandle | L 66-60 (OT) | |